Emerging Writer Prize
The Apiary is delighted to announce its inaugural Emerging Writer Prizes.
In each category we will be selecting one over-all winner and two runners up. The winner will receive 100 pounds, and each runner up will receive 50 pounds. All short-listed entries will be considered for publication in the magazine.
There is no entry fee
- The short fiction prize will be open for entries from 5th of October to 8th of November with winning entries being published in Issue 12 of the Apiary. The short fiction prize will be adjudicated by Colin Barrett.
- The poetry prize will be open for entries in early 2027 with winning entries being published in Issue 13 of the Apiary. Our poetry judge will be announced closer to the competition opening.
A longlist for each prize will be selected by the Apiary Editorial team, and the final selection will be judged by prize-winning, internationally renowned writers. We intend this to be an opportunity for developing writers to showcase their best work on a wider stage.
Our Fiction Judge
Colin Barrett is the author of two short story collections, Young Skins and Homesickness, and the novel Wild Houses. His short fiction has been published in The New Yorker, Harpers, Granta and the Stinging Fly, and others. Colin won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and the Guardian First Book Award. Wild Houses won the 2024 Nero Prize for Debut Fiction and was longlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize.
Competition Guidelines
- This competition is open to current students and alumni of Queen's University, Belfast who are yet to publish or self-publish a full-length book. By long form, we mean novel, poetry collection, short story collection, essay collection, etc. Poetry pamphlets are not considered full-length books.
- Entries will be made by Google form, linked on this page, not by email.
- An entry for short-fiction consists of a single story, totalling strictly less than 2500 words. Entries that exceed this limit will be disqualified. Fiction entries which are less than 1000 words are considered Flash Fiction and are not eligible at this time.
- An entry for poetry consists of a maximum of three poems. Each individual poem can be up to 40 lines long. Titles, epigraphs, and stanza breaks do not count towards the line limit. Entries that exceed these constraints will be disqualified.
- There is no cost to entry, but strictly one entry per person is allowed. If a person is found to have entered multiple times, all entries by that person will be disqualified.
- The story or poems may not have been previously published elsewhere. This includes online or on social media.
- We do accept simultaneous submissions, but please let us know immediately if your work is accepted for publication elsewhere.
- All entries will be read by the Apiary editorial team. A longlist of entries selected by the editorial team will be read by the judge.
- All entries are considered for publication in the Apiary, irrespective of the final competition results.
- All entries will be judged anonymously. Do not include your name anywhere in the body of your work.
- AI generated or assisted work is not permitted.
- The judge's verdicts are final. No correspondence will be entered into by The Apiary team or the judges with regards to the results of the competition.
- Entries should be submitted as follows:
- In a single document for short fiction and one doc per poem for poetry.
- In .doc or .docx format and pdf format
- Double spaced and in 12 pt font for short-fiction.
- Single spaced for poetry
- Please title your submission with the category and title, e.g. 'MyGeniusTale_Fiction' or 'AngstyLines_Poetry'.
- By entering, you accept these rules.